We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion. …
The opening to this memoir, Hollywood Park written by Mikel Jollett, is profound and compelling and captured my attention immediately. I'm not usually into memoirs but the story of Mikel growing up in a poverty stricken environment filled with abuse and the lure of drugs and alcohol at an early age is incredibly relatable to me and what hooked me from the very beginning. This memoir follows Mikel through his childhood through his life joining a notorious cult. A must read for sure.